Landlord mortgage tool uses AI to search for best deals

An online mortgage broker specialising in buy to let has launched a new tool using Artificial Intelligence to show landlords how they can save on new loan products. 

“Unlike other website calculators that just use a simple formula the Property Master calculator actually performs a full whole of market product search and uses real affordability rules from each lender” says Property Master chief executive Angus Stewart.

The calculator requires a property value, a rental income and the purpose of the mortgage. 

It also asks the user whether they are seeking to borrow a specific amount (expressed in £s or as a loan to value percentage) or whether they wish to find the maximum amount they can borrow.  

It matches this data against every product from every lender in the buy to let mortgage market. It will then display the best deal, but it will also flag how an even better deal can be found by making a minor reduction to the amount the landlord wishes to borrow.  

By, for example, borrowing just a few thousand less, a landlord can find they unlock access to a mortgage that will save them hundreds of pounds a month and thousands of pounds over the life of the mortgage.  

“It goes one step beyond simply displaying the best deal. It uses our own specially developed Mortgage Optimiser Technology to highlight the opportunity for a landlord to get an even cheaper deal by making a minor reduction to the amount being borrowed" says Stewart.

“We are putting landlords in control of the complex lending and affordability criteria that in the past has made their search for the best mortgage deal so challenging” he adds.

Since the introduction by the Prudential Regulatory Authority of new buy to let affordability criteria in 2016 the process of identifying the best mortgage deal has become more complex.  

Individual lenders interpret the baseline affordability criteria laid down by the PRA in numerous different ways. This complexity increases further once lenders factor in their own criteria - for example, the tax status of the landlord, whether the property is being purchased by an individual or through a limited company and the Loan to Value the applicant is requesting. 

Published lending and affordability criteria from just one lender can run into 18 pages or more, says Stewart.

The Property Master calculator is free to use and works on both a mobile and PC and can be accessed here.

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